A/N: This is the final story in this collection, and I will forewarn you that it is longer than the others, and it is fairly sad. More notes to follow!

Sailor Pluto stood as she always did, staff in hand, watching the swirls and eddies of time. An outside observer would think she was a statue of herself, she was so still. It was simply many ages of standing in the same place, observing time. Much of it was uninteresting, times and wars and eras she didn't care much about, but there were also certain, special times she cared to peek in on. Some times were harder to see than others. In the current time stream, she could not peer into the future so easily as the present or the past.

Time worked strangely, out here. She had been introduced to this world when she was very young, so young she could barely remember, but somehow it had been later in time, in the future she couldn't see so well. It was hard to recall what the time stream looked like when she had entered – she had hardly paid it any mind when she had first come here, an unknown amount of time ago. Instead of reflecting on time, she had spent a good portion of her youth breaking the rules that had been set for her before she had come.

Pranks had been the majority of her antics, abandoning her post to do stupid things like steal unimportant objects from people like socks or television remotes. It had been incredibly funny to her at the time, and even looking back at herself doing these things she had to smile a little, but it never lasted. Now she knew how serious her station was, how absolutely critical it was for her to be here at all times, and she had not broken her solemn vow as the Keeper of the Gate of Time and Space and had upheld the rules with swift and exact justice since that incident so many years ago…

She roused herself from her thoughts by shaking her head to clear it. Her eyes focused once again on the scenes playing themselves out before her. Usagi, as she was known in this time, was sitting in a restaurant with her friends, who composed the senshi who protected her. It was at some arcade that they went to often, meeting for business, but more likely to horse around and enjoy all of the pleasures that most girls their age indulged in, pleasures that they took for granted every day of their free lives.

Usagi was playing a game with Makoto leaning over her shoulder, egging her on. It was one of the Sailor V games, which always made Pluto smile a little. The irony displayed in people's lives was always so evident from this viewpoint, but they often seemed to miss it themselves. A wistful smile crossed her face for a moment as Usagi pounded away at the machine, outraged that she had died on some boss in the game. The smile quickly left, just as most of her smiles did. Emotion had little function here, in a barren world full of nothing but windows.

When she felt her throat tightening she turned away. Many tears had been cried, more than any antics could wash away, but they had long since dried. The many stages of grief had passed as well, and she had come to accept her fate, and had learned to stand still for what felt like eons. She had some knowledge that a day would come when she would be called on, when she would be moved to act at last, but she had no idea when that would be, or how it would occur. Time moved differently out here, sometimes seeming to happen all at once, and sometimes not seeming to move at all.

There was also some knowledge that sometime soon she would be freed from her utter solitude by a little girl, but she did not know who. Most people believed her to be omniscient, but she was forbidden to peer too deeply into the regions of time that had yet to unfold, relatively. Besides, it was a difficult task to see into the future, and the time had not yet come where her powers would be released enough for her to have that kind of control. She grimaced at the very thought, knowing that the presence of the little girl meant that in time, she would break from her duty to indulge in company, actually allowing someone in this place. Many times she had been angry with herself for events that had not occurred, but for this she could never forgive herself. When the day came, her perspective would most likely change, but breaking a rule she had been trained to kill for was beyond her comprehension.

A long, drawn-out sigh escaped her and she closed her eyes as the weight settled in on her. Every now and then she could forget it for a time – minutes, seconds, months, who knew how long, but it always came back. There was the deep sense of duty, the dedication she had to what she did, but nothing, not even the stern commands of a queen had been able to stamp out the restlessness that always plagued her. Nothing was able to overcome the emptiness she felt, and an empty existence was what she had resigned herself to. The only thing she had was her training, and she had met the limit of her powers here. She knew them inside and out, and had used them all at one point or another when some foolish mortal thought that they were worthy enough to mess with her realm.

Her grip on her staff tightened at that thought. Many times she had been made to enforce the laws, and many times she had watched them fall. Unquestioning judgment was delivered, and punishment swift and severe. It all came back to that little girl, the girl she could never see but knew she would forgive, and it always made her angry. To think that some day she would go back on her word, that she would abandon what she had sworn that day. It made her blood boil, but she quickly dismissed it, knowing that getting upset with events that had not yet occurred would do her no good. In a way they had already occurred, because she had seen bits and pieces, but they would come around soon and she would just have to be patient.

Again she cast her eyes on the window before her, the window that seemed to follow her no matter where she went. The blonde was laughing, eating sweets with her friends with not a care in the world. In a way Pluto was angry with her, and in a way she worshipped her. Without any doubt she knew that this was the Messiah spoken of since she was little, but she seemed to take everything for granted. A thought stirred deep in the back of her mind, a voice whispering to her that maybe that was the best way to live, after all.

A slow, howling wind picked up and her features came into sharp relief. Something big was coming, some change was on that wind. She clutched her staff tightly to her chest, waiting for it to arrive, her eyes darting to the window often as she searched around the emptiness for something, anything at all to let her foresee what it was. The future was still misted over, and for a long, terrifying moment she felt that deep horror creeping into her soul. To not know what was coming was an idea she struggled with, and this wind was bringing memories to her, parts of her own past she'd rather not recollect. Something was about to happen, and she knew she would be called upon soon. A familiar voice echoed in her mind, a voice she had not heard for millennia, one that sounded as if it were right beside her again, and a chill ran down her spine, which made the keys around her waist jingle obscenely in the deathly quiet.

"Pluto."

"Yes?"

"There are three things you must never do. First, you must not cross time. Second, you must never leave the gate for any reason. And third…"

"Yes my lady?"

"Pluto, the third thing you must never do…you must not stop time. If you do, your life will be forfeit."

Pluto gasped, the awareness tearing away at her heart. She fell to her knees, clutching her chest and gasping for air. The world was spinning around her, and as she looked out at that angelic face, she knew that it was worth it. There was no question in her heart that she would die for this girl, that she would give her life to spare her and those she loved, but it still hurt. Since she had been aware of herself in life, she had known that she would be eternal, that she would guard the gates forever, that she would become, in a sense, a goddess of the Underworld, a keeper of time. She had dispatched many souls who had wandered here in search of power, but never had she envisioned her own mortality, not once. For the first time in many, many eons, Sailor Pluto looked out at the world, and knew she was going to die.

A/N: I hate to leave this collection of stories on such a sad note, but Sailor Pluto's story must always be last, for in my eyes she is eternal. Unfortunately her stories are also almost always sad. Aside from Usagi, she is my favorite character from the series, and in this story she is based much more on the Pluto from the manga than from the anime. The pluto from the manga has seen much more than her anime counterpart, and she is darker, almost sinister, and is a true Senshi of the Underworld. She is the only senshi we know of who will kill without remorse, and without hesitation. Galaxia may be seen as an exception to this, but really we learn she is without her star seed when she is this way. Even Tin Nyanko would hesitate over killing someone, I think. Pluto is the most duty-bound, and she has lived for amounts of time we probably can't even imagine. She is beautiful and deep, and lonely. Anyways, I really hoped you enjoyed reading this, and please please please if you enjoyed this particular chapter let me know. It was not my favorite to write, it was by far my favorite story to tell.

Serenity-hime